During my travels I often capture people around the world in a candid manner in their natural environment. As my confidence has grown and my photographic skills have improved I have begun taking more portrait photographs. These are often what are called 'environmental portraits', a portrait taken in the subject's usual environment and which normally include the surroundings as well as the person. More recently I have also started taking 'head shot' style portraits, a tighter cropped image where the focus is on the persons face only. For my head shots I normally ask the person for their permission first. Click through the slideshow below to view some of my travel portraits:

Peruvian Portrait by Geraint Rowland, Cusco.

A head shot portrait taken in La Habana, Cuba.

Portrait of a beautiful elderly lady in Arequipa, Peru.

Classic Cuban Portrait by Geraint Rowland, Havana.

African Child Portrait by Geraint Rowland, The Gambia

Candid Portrait during Mexico's Day of the Dead.

Peruvian portrait in Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.

Cuban Portrait by Geraint Rowland Photography.

An environmental portrait taken in Mexico City of one of it's many Organ Grinders.

A candid portrait of a traditionally dressed Bolivian woman.

With the majority of travel portraits above I asked for permission for the image to be taken. Often in touristy areas you are required or asked to pay for such portraits as was the case in Cusco, Peru, and Havana, Cuba. The image of the Mexican girl in the Day of the Dead makeup and the final image of the Bolivian lady were the exceptions as both were caught candidly. The beauty of head shots and or tightly cropped portraits is that you minimise the clutter in the background of the image.

All of the portraits were taken using a Canon 5D (Mark 2 or 4) and the majority were with the Canon 50mm 1.4. Other lenses used were the Canon 85mm 1.8 and the Sigma Art Lens 135mm 1.8. All of the images were taken using natural light and without the use of a flash. The images were often taken with a shallow depth of field to create a pleasing background and draw attention to the persons face. Images of people from around the world fascinate me, I think that they tell you more about a place than a landscape ever can. In the future I want to focus more on portraits and improve my skills in this area of photography.

I am currently taking over the Ffotogallery Platform Instagram (15 - 23rd July). I started my photographic journey eight years ago at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, Wales when I enrolled on two evening courses. Via Ffotogallery I enrolled on two courses: 'Introduction to Photography: Beginner' and subsequently 'Introduction to Photography: Intermediate'. I enjoyed both courses immensely and have been taking photos ever since. I was therefore very excited and honoured to be involved with such a project. Below is a slide show of the travel images I chose for the project (NB: I will add to the slideshow as the week progresses).

Ffotogallery Platform is an online project created to help emerging photographers and lens-based artists make their work accessible to a wider audience, including industry professionals and peers through Ffotogallery's network, and to help create links within the photographic and artistic community. Selected participants are offered a one week residency on the Ffotogallery Platform Instagram account (@ffotogalleryplatform). The Platform launched in January 2018 as part of 40:40 Vision, a year long celebration of events, projects and exhibitions to celebrate Ffotogallery's 40th Birthday.

The online residency involves uploading between 1 - 4 images a day to the Instagram site belonging to Ffotogallery Platform. I was asked by the organisers to focus on my street and portrait photography as they believed these would translate well to Instagram. So far the project has been very useful for me. It has increased my reach and exposure noticeably on my own Instagram account (@Geraint_Rowland_Photography). In addition it has given me additional experience in the photo selection and curation process. This is beneficial for both online presentation and future exhibition considerations. I hope to carry out further Instagram takeovers in the future.

I recently spent a week in Havana, the Capital of Cuba. It's a great place for photos, full of old classic cars, interesting architecture, and a lot of colour. Whilst in Havana I also took several portrait shots of some of the locals. When I first started taking photos I took mainly nature shots: flowers and landscapes. I then became interested in Street photography capturing people around the World in a candid manner. A friend once told me that the best photographs are those which contain people and I now tend to agree with that more and more. Click through the slideshow below for some black and white Cuban portraits:

A black and white portrait of a curvy Cuban lady smoking a cigar.

A black and white street portrait of a friendly man smoking a cigar in La Habana.

A black and white portrait of an elderly cuban lady with flowers in her hair and a large cuban cigar.

A black and white street portrait of a man in dungarees and cap in Havana, Cuba.

A head shot portrait of an elderly man taken on the streets of Havana in Cuba.

All of the above photos were taken with a Canon 5D IV using natural light. The lenses used were the Canon 50mm 1.4 prime lens and the Sigma Art lens at 135mm. Some of the people I captured in Havana were there for the tourism and received money in exchange for photos, but a couple were strangers in the street whom I asked if I could photograph. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and with street portraits I believe you get an even more interesting story from an image. I was happy with the head shots I got in and around Havana and plan to take some more in the future. I converted the images to black and white using Lightroom as I preferred the overall mood of the resulting series. However, Havana is a colourful place and it is often nice to see the images in colour. One of the cigar smoking ladies can be seen in colour here, whilst the cigar smoking gentleman can be viewed here.

Cuba is a country located in the Caribbean, south of the US state of Florida, west of Haiti and north of Jamaica. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and has over 11 million inhabitants. Havana (Habana or La Habana in Spanish) is the capital city and leading commercial centre of Cuba.

I recently spent two months in Senegal, during that time I travelled south to the Cassamance area staying in Ziguinchor. From Ziguinchor I travelled north to spend a couple of weeks in The Gambia. I spent a couple of weeks living in the Serekunda area some 11 km's west of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. This set of black and white photographs were taken outside a traditional Gambian home. Click through the slideshow below for some black and white portraits I took of the local Gambian children there:

A beautiful black and white portrait of a young girl in Gambia.

Gambian children in the Capital.

A cheeky Gambian child smiles for the camera.

A Gambian family in the capital of Banjul.

Black and white African portrait.

African children playing in the street.

African street portrait.

All of the above photos were taken with a Canon 5D2 and a 50mm 1.4 prime lens. Some of the images were taken candidly whilst others were obviously posed. I converted the images to black and white using Lightroom as I preferred the overall mood of the resulting series.

The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa that is completely surrounded by Senegal except for it's coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Despite a third of Gambians living under the poverty line, the people there are extremely friendly and welcoming. In fact The Gambia is often referred to as the 'Smiling Coast of West Africa'. I hope to return soon to explore more of the country and take more photos.